As an engineer and technician engaged in natural sciences, Su Hao attaches great importance to the feasible surname and development path of a thing. In the plan submitted to Wanli, he did not suggest that Da Ming immediately form a powerful invincible fleet and dominate the world. Instead, in accordance with the constraints of the current national strength, technological level, and the concept of the government and the opposition, a multi-step strategy has been formulated.

First of all, it is necessary to vigorously popularize scientific knowledge and promote the development of modern industry. To achieve this, it is necessary to bring in a large number of Western scholars and craftsmen, encourage businessmen to invest in industry, improve production technology, and realize the transformation from an agricultural country to an industrial country.

The second is to gradually restore the strength of the naval division, including the training of sailors and the construction of warships. The construction of the navy requires a large amount of funds, which can be raised through the method of private fund-raising, and the method used by the navy to return private capital is to gradually expand outward and earn overseas benefits for the businesses that contribute to it.

Among them, Su Hao specifically mentioned Luzon, which was not far from the Ming Dynasty, pointing out that it was a place rich in gold, and now it has been reduced to a colony of Franco. As a close neighbor of Luzon, the Ming Dynasty had every obligation to free the Luzon people, including a large number of overseas Chinese, from the slavery of the Franco.

Regarding Su Hao's suggestion, Wanli just smiled and said nothing. With his understanding of Su Hao, he naturally knew what this rescue meant. If Su Hao really meant to fulfill some international obligations as he said, why did he write the words "rich in gold" so eye-catching?

In Su Hao's Chen, after occupying Luzon, the next step was to go to Java, Sunda, Malacca and other places to establish their own advance bases. At present, Europeans have reached these places and colonization has begun. If Su Hao remembered correctly, the European powerhouse Holland would establish the Dutch East India Company in Indonesia a few years later as a base for enslaving the countries of Southeast Asia. The Ming Dynasty was still the most powerful country in the world at this time, and it was an act of sitting back and watching a bunch of small states expand their power around them.

The plans for the future are more distant. According to Su Hao's idea, the Ming Dynasty should further develop to the south and east, and establish its own sphere of influence in Australia and the Americas respectively, whether as an economic colony or a population colony, it is very necessary. In addition, the establishment of spheres of influence in these places can also effectively curb the expansion of European countries, thus avoiding the tragedy of the European powers in later generations.

One by one, you can see that Wanli is full of blood. In fact, he is only 30 years old, which is the age of blood and strength. Compared with his grandson Zhu Youxiao, who only wanted to be a carpenter, Wanli can be regarded as an aspiring emperor. has been scolded by the ministers for more than ten years as "mediocre and incompetent", and he also hopes that there is some way to prove his ability, Su Hao's excerpt is in line with his current ambitions.

In 1593, that is, in the 21st year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the Battle of Ningxia had ended victoriously, and the first war to aid Korea against the Japanese was won under the command of Song Yingchang, Li Rusong and others. Thanks to the use of advanced firearms, both the Ningxia War and the Korean War were much less expensive than expected, thus avoiding the dilemma of an empty treasury.

In such a situation, Wanli has enough confidence to practice Su Hao's strategy of expanding territory. What's more, Su Hao also fully expounded on economic issues in his strategy, basically following a set of ideas of "feeding war with war", which can allow the financial resources of the people to voluntarily pool to support the country's expansion strategy.

"Instead, your strategy is very good, and if I agree, you can do it. If you need me to give you any support, you can just say it, but if I can do it, I will never refuse. Wanli promised Su Hao with great ambition.

"Thank you for your grace!" Su Hao knelt down and sincerely kowtowed to Wanli a few times to show his gratitude.

In any case, Wanli is the supreme leader of the country after all. A monarch can promise his courtiers everything they need, and this trust can be said to be as heavy as Mount Tai. Although Su Hao is a traverser, it is necessary to follow the customs of the locals and kneel and kowtow to Wanli. To talk about equality in this era is to be pedantic.

Next, Su Hao and Wanli had a more detailed discussion on some specific issues, and Su Hao could only perfunctory about the Australian continent that never appeared on the map of Matteo Ricci. At this time, it was still more than 100 years before Captain Cook discovered Australia, so it was impossible for Europeans to have this continent on their maps, but there were some sporadic records in Chinese literature, which were enough to confirm Su Hao's judgment.

The two of them chatted from the morning to the evening, and Su Hao had two meals in the palace. In the end, the eunuch guarding the palace door came over to remind him that the door was about to be locked, and Su Hao said goodbye and left.

The article Chen handed over by Su Hao to Wanli was strictly controlled and circulated within the confines of a small number of cabinet members, but many of its contents spread far and wide, quickly infiltrating every small circle of officialdom and shopping malls in the capital.

In the house of Yang Junmin, the secretary of the household department, a group of officials who usually move around more frequently gathered together and were discussing Su Hao's marine strategy. In front of them, there was a map of the world that looked like the one translated by Matteo Ricci, and I don't know where these people got it.

Yang Junmin's eyes stared directly at the American continent on the map, which looked like a bunch of grapes, and said with a bit of excitement in his tone: "The gold produced in this place can really be more than the gold of the entire Ming Dynasty?" ”

Zhou Wei'an, the servant of the ministry, said: "I asked Dong Tianzhang to inquire with Su Gaizhi, and he said that this place called America, in addition to gold, there are countless silver. In this place in the south of the Americas, there are hundreds of millions of hectares of forest, all of which are giant trees that have grown for hundreds of years, and their value is more than a city. ”

"This Su Gaizhi has never been to the Americas, how can he know so much? It can't be a nonsense made up to deceive His Majesty, right? Yushi Xu Shen said with a skeptical attitude.

As soon as his words came out, he was despised by everyone:

"Xu Yushi's words are wrong, although this Su Gaizhi said that he didn't learn and didn't know how to speak, but his words have always been very reliable, you don't see him asserting that there is a mine outside Helan Mountain, and the result is really mined mine."

"Zhang Shilang's words are also inappropriate, this fruit of Su Reform is not learned and unskilled? In terms of knowledge, the old man really thinks that this Su Gaizhi has a few brushes. ”

"Chen Dutang, don't get me wrong, what Zhang said is that Su Gaizhi doesn't know anything about the sage article, if you want to say that there is a left way, we are afraid that the people in this room are not his opponents."

"What do you mean by the side door, let's be cold for ten years, can the things we learn be exchanged for silver? The thing that people learn is the really useful thing, just find a few mines, it is tens of thousands of taels of dividends, which is much more comfortable than us working hard to earn some money. ”

"Li Shaoqing, are you really just working hard to earn some money? Those industries you have in Shanxi, do you want to report to you? ”

“……”

"Ladies and gentlemen, I digress." Yang Junmin raised his hand and stopped everyone's heated discussion, he said: "It seems that you don't have any questions about what Su Gaizhi said, right?" ”

"There is no doubt." They all replied in unison.

"Then the next question is, what should we do?" Yang Junmin said.

"Needless to say, it is naturally to cooperate with Su Gaizhi and join in a share." Zhou Wei'an said assumedly. He was the first among the ministers of the court to cooperate with Su Hao in business, and he benefited a lot from these cooperations, and he had long regarded Su Hao as a cash cow in his heart.

Xu Shen belonged to people who were a little disdainful of Su Hao, and he said: "You can't let this villain take advantage of all good things, right?" In the past, we didn't know that overseas was so rich, but now that we know, why do we have to cooperate with him? ”

Zhou Wei'an sneered: "Xu Yushi, can you see clearly, this America is four or five times the size of our Ming Dynasty, you bring tens of thousands of people over, can you find gold?" Su Gaizhi's skill lies in the fact that he not only knows that there is such a place, but also knows where the gold mine is. Who else has this ability? ”

"I don't believe it, the entire Ming Dynasty can't find a person who can prospect for minerals." Xu Shen retorted with some confidence.

Yang Junmin said: "I have also asked people to ask about this matter. This ability to change is indeed something that others do not have. As for the mining outside Nasai, the Tatars lived there for a long time, and they did not know that there were mines underground. According to the mine owners who went to invest in mining, the ore points marked by Su Gaizhi, although slightly off, were much more accurate than all the miners they found. ”

"Where did you learn this kid's skills?" Someone muttered.

"I heard that he learned it from the Franco." Another guessed.

"It's just an excuse." Zhou Wei'an put on an authoritative appearance and said, "There are so many Franc machine missionaries in our Ming Dynasty, you go and catch one of them and ask to see if they have this ability." According to Zhou's inquiry through internal relations, this Su Gaizhi is amazing, he is a descendant of a Taoist in Yuhua Mountain, Fengcheng, Jiangxi, and this land survey technique is the secret of his door. ”

"Yes, yes, I've heard about it." Someone next to him hurriedly added, and told everyone the anecdotes about Su Hao from hearsay. Everyone nodded frequently, because such a strange thing can only be explained by pushing it to metaphysics.

"That's not surprising." Yang Junmin nodded, "If you want to talk about feng shui, you should be the most proficient in Jiangxi Taoism." The spell that Su Hao mastered was indeed something that others couldn't learn. Shicai Zhou Shilang said that we can only have a chance if we cooperate with this Su Hao. It's just that I don't know how big Su Hao's appetite is, if we cooperate with him, how much benefit he is willing to give to share with us. ”

Regarding this issue, Zhou Wei'an discussed it with Su Hao. In fact, Su Hao also needs to pass on his ideas to those rich or powerful people in the Ming Dynasty and the opposition through people like Zhou Wei'an, so as to attract them to join the ranks of overseas development.

In Zhou's opinion, Su Gaizhi is not a greedy person. Zhou cooperated with Su Gaizhi in the past, and in terms of benefit distribution, Zhou felt that he was still very good at talking. Everyone has also participated in the mining in Ningxia, what do you think of the benefits? Zhou Wei'an said.

Everyone nodded in unison: "From the heart, the distribution is still fair." ”

"That's it." Zhou Wei'an said, "Su Hao's ambition should be to assist the saint to expand the territory in order to make history famous." If you want to make money, the industry under his hands is all fat, I think, he should be tired of counting money every day. ”

"Hahahaha!" Everyone laughed together, and the laughter was mixed with a bit of stupidity. In fact, most of these officials also have strong industries, and their family background is not thinner than Su Hao. But their industry is accumulated from years of painstaking operation, unlike Su Hao, who started from scratch and made a fortune in a few years.

Su Hao's age is younger than everyone else, and his academic attainments cannot be compared with everyone else, but he can earn a lot of money, which can't help but make these champions and officials from Tanhua feel indignant and envious.

Yang Junmin finished laughing at everyone, and said to Zhou Wei'an: "This matter is settled, Zhou Shilang, you hurry up and talk to Su Gaizhi to see if he intends to cooperate with all of us, and how he plans to cooperate." Although he has some industries, after all, he is a family of upstarts, and there is still a gap between him and all of us. Didn't he want to go overseas to open up, to train troops, to build ships, that is all a matter of spending money, to Yang guessed, he needs the silver and talents in our hands. (To be continued.) )